What is CVE-2020-36691?

CVE-2020-36691 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10, classified as a Uncontrolled Recursion flaw (CWE-674). CVE-2020-36691 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2020-36691?

CVE-2020-36691 has a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10, rated Medium severity. The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

Is there a patch available for CVE-2020-36691?

No patch is currently available for CVE-2020-36691. Monitor the NIST NVD and your Linux distribution's security advisories for updates.

Is CVE-2020-36691 actively exploited?

CVE-2020-36691 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is Uncontrolled Recursion (CWE-674)?

The product does not properly control the amount of recursion which triggers resource consumption. See MITRE CWE for full details: https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/674.html

CVE-2020-36691

Medium

An issue was discovered in the Linux kernel before 5.8. lib/nlattr.c allows attackers to cause a denial of service (unbounded recursion) via a nested Netlink policy with a back reference.

Package Linux Kernel

Published 2023-03-24

Last modified 2025-02-21

CVSS version 3.1

Patch available

Awaiting data

CVSS 3.1 score

5.5

out of 10

Medium

Attack Vector

Local

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

Low

User Interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

Low

Integrity

None

Availability

High

Vector string

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Weakness type

CWE-674

CVE-2020-36691 is a Uncontrolled Recursion vulnerability

What is Uncontrolled Recursion?

The product does not properly control the amount of recursion which triggers resource consumption. Learn more on MITRE CWE

References

The following references provide additional information about CVE-2020-36691 including vendor advisories, patch commits, exploit details, and third-party analysis. Links are sourced from the NIST NVD database.

Kernel.org
https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v5.x/ChangeLog-5.8

Release Notes
Kernel patch commit
https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/7690aa1cdf7c4565ad6b013b324c28b685505e24
Patch

Details

CVE ID CVE-2020-36691

Severity Medium

CVSS score 5.5 / 10

CVSS version 3.1

Published 2023-03-24

Modified 2025-02-21

KEV No

Patch Awaiting data

Package linux

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2020-36691?

CVE-2020-36691 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10 , classified as an Uncontrolled Recursion flaw (CWE-674) . CVE-2020-36691 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
What is the CVSS score for CVE-2020-36691?

CVE-2020-36691 has a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10, rated Medium severity (CVSS 3.1). The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
Is there a patch available for CVE-2020-36691?

No patch is currently available for CVE-2020-36691. Monitor the NIST NVD and your Linux distribution's security advisories for updates.
Is CVE-2020-36691 actively exploited?

No — CVE-2020-36691 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.
What is Uncontrolled Recursion (CWE-674)?

The product does not properly control the amount of recursion which triggers resource consumption. View CWE-674 on MITRE CWE →